2021 Troupis 'Holy Mania' Mantineia

Region: Mantinia< Macedonia < Greece

Grapes: Moschofilero

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Organic farming; clay-rocky soils; 2 days skin maceration then fermented in terra cotta spheres; lees stirring; bottled without fining or filtering with minimal So2; 13.5% ABV

Winemaker: Yiannis Troupis

NEW ORANGE FROM OUR FAVORITE GREEK GUYS!

Troupis is an ambitious young winery on the high plateau of Mantinia, on Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula.  They’re small, family-run, quality-focused, and dedicated to the Moschfilero grape – but doing it in a fresh new (low intervention) way, with skin contact, native ferment, no fining or filtering and super low So2 additions.  This is all pretty unusual in the area, so it’s no surprise that this wine was rejected by the Mantinia appellation for being “untypical” – and also that we love it. As Yiannis Troupis says, “this is Moschofilero as our fathers and grandfathers remember it, skin contact, spontaneous yeast fermented, unfiltered with only the barest amount of sulfites… our homage to the wines native to high plateau of Mantinia for millennia.”

Here, the rustic skin contact fermentation somehow feels gussied up here thanks to the floral, aromatic quality of the pink-skinned, pink-fleshed Moschofilero grape. Pinky-orange, cloudy and bone-dry, with floral aromatics, salty and tangy with exotic fruit, fuzzy peach skins and a vibrant, peachy finish.  While this is highly experimental for these parts, in our book it is extremely well-behaved, delicious and drinkable to the last drop, even on day 4. A skin-contact wine even your mama would love.